Foreign Minister Yair Lapid has repeatedly called for Israelis to leave Ukraine over the last few days. "I continue to call on Israelis in Ukraine: Do not take unnecessary risks, come home. Better to be safe than sorry. If a war breaks out, it will be much harder to board flights; it will be much harder to leave Ukraine and return to Israel. In the next day or two, it would be still relatively simple. Israeli airlines are increasing flights. Anyone who wants to return to Israel can. The Foreign Ministry will increase its manpower in Kyiv. If necessary, we will open another office in Lvov. We will make sure that every Israeli and every Jew who wants to come home receives all the help they need," he tweeted.
Israel is preparing for the eventuality of Ukrainian Jews asking to be evacuated as well. In an interview this morning with the Times of Israel, Lapid said, “If the Jews in Ukraine are going to feel they’re in jeopardy and they need to be rescued or helped out, Israel will be there for them, as it was for Ethiopian Jews during the civil war or the waves of hunger there, and so on.”
